LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - A House panel advanced a proposal Tuesday to cut income taxes in Arkansas, a move that would cost the state about $57 million a year and that opponents warned would primarily help the state's wealthiest residents.

The House Revenue and Taxation Committee approved the measure and sent it to the full House for consideration. It's among several proposals that legislative leaders say could be a part of a roughly $100 million tax cut package they're negotiating.

The proposal approved Tuesday would lower the top income tax rate from 7 percent to 6.875 percent and increase the minimum income it applies to from $34,000 to $44,000. The reduction would take effect for the 2014 tax year. The lawmaker behind the idea said it would help Arkansas generate jobs by making its tax rate more competitive with surrounding states.

"While eliminating the income tax is not realistic for us in any kind of near term, getting ourselves into a more competitive position will help Arkansans get jobs," said Rep. Charlie Collins, R-Fayetteville, who also chairs the tax committee.

Opponents of the cut, however, pointed to a study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy that said Arkansas taxpayers who making more than $155,000 a year would receive half of the total benefits resulting from the cut.

"This bill would just exacerbate the current overall regressivity of the system," said Rich Huddleston, executive director of Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families.

The panel tabled a separate proposal backed by Huddleston's group that would have created a state Earned Income Tax Credit for low-income Arkansans. That measure would have cost the state about $40 million a year.

The income tax cut was endorsed as legislative leaders say they're nearing a deal on tax cuts. The House panel was expected to consider a proposal later Tuesday by House Speaker Davy Carter to cut taxes on capital gains.

Republicans, who won control of the House and Senate in November, have been pushing for more cuts despite warnings from Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe that there's no room for additional reductions in his proposed budget.

Beebe, however, has said that a "substantial" amount of cuts could be funded by the savings he says the state would see from a proposal to expand health insurance to low-income Arkansans. The proposal would use federal funds to purchase private insurance for residents newly eligible for Medicaid under the federal health care law.

"If you do tax cuts without that, you're cutting into a lot of essential services," Beebe told reporters.